Scott on track for biggest victory

29 March 2004 — 10:00pm

Queenslander Adam Scott was on track for the biggest win of his career at the $10.85 million Players Championship after a three-under-par 69 gave him a two-shot lead going into the final round, to be played overnight (Melbourne time).

The chasing pack included four players ranked in the top 12 - Kenny Perry, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh - plus in-form countryman Craig Parry on TPC Sawgrass, one of the United States tour's toughest courses. But 23-year-old Scott has won all five times he has taken the lead into the final round of a pro tour event, indicating there's real steel behind the soft-spoken, mild-mannered demeanour.

Scott recovered from a first-hole bogey in the third round to card an otherwise unblemished three-under-par 69 to be at 10-under 206 total, two strokes ahead of Americans Frank Lickliter and Kevin Sutherland, while five others, including Els, trailed by three.

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Parry was also in the hunt, four shots back, after a 64, the best round of the tournament.

"All areas of my game were great today," said Scott, who made his move with a hat-trick of birdies starting at the 10th. "I drove the ball nicely and hit a lot of greens.

"I didn't make all the putts but the greens were tough because you couldn't be aggressive."

World No. 3 Els played with Scott, and was clearly impressed. "He never looked in trouble," the South African said. "He missed some putts, too. He could have shot lower."

Scott leads the field in greens in regulation in this event, hitting 14 of 18 in the third round, and his swing is drawing rave reviews from, among others, US television commentator Johnny Miller, who said Scott was swinging as well as Tiger Woods did in 2000.

"I don't try to swing like Tiger, I try to swing like me," Scott said. "When Tiger turned pro, I did try to swing like him, but since then my swing's evolved into Adam Scott's swing."

It wasn't a bad day either for Parry, who improved 60 places, a tournament third-round record.

Meanwhile, Australia's Karrie Webb is hoping for her seventh major after a third-round 71 left her only two shots off the lead in the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Rancho Mirage in California.